military

The Future of Flight: AI in the Cockpit Watch how the U.S. military’s investments in autonomous flight technologies could soon change the way planes, helicopters and drones are deployed in the world’s most dangerous places. AI-empowered systems may soon allow autonomous flying machines to reduce the number of pilots and Read more…

The Pentagon Will Spend $2 Billion Advancing Artificial Intelligence Weaponry Officials say they want computers to be capable of explaining their decisions to military commanders The Defense Department’s cutting-edge research arm has promised to make the military’s largest investment to date in artificial intelligence (AI) systems for U.S. weaponry, committing Read more…

Local Police Departments Favorite War Machines News of the little-known Pentagon program that practically gave away $500 Million worth of retired military equipment to local police departments last year prompts the question: What the heck are cops actually doing with tanks and grenade launchers? News of the little-known Pentagon program Read more…

Weaponized Drones and Machines That Attack Autonomously Are Coming Ryan Browne- CNBC The idea of a computer program learning by itself, growing in knowledge and becoming increasingly sophisticated may be a scary one. It’s even scarier when it’s learning to attack things. It’s easy to dismiss artificial intelligence as yet Read more…

The U.S. Navy’s most advanced submarines will soon be using Xbox controllers ABOARD USS JOHN WARNER The control room of one of the Navy’s most advanced submarines is filled with sophisticated computers, flat-screen monitors and sailors who grew up in a digital world. At times it can look a bit Read more…

Uncle Sam Wants You To Fight Alongside a Killer Robot A Q&A with newly departed Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work on Kim’s nukes, Putin’s paranoia and bigger problems over the horizon. Running for president last year, Republican Senator Ted Cruz was widely ridiculed for telling a young girl that “the world’s on Read more…

DARPA to Use Electrical Stimulation to Enhance Military Training It takes years to learn some of the most important national security skills, such as speaking foreign languages, analyzing surveillance images, and marksmanship. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) wants to speed up that training process using electrical stimulation to enhance the brain’s ability to learn. The Read more…

The game that makes drone warfare personal ‘Killbox’ drives home the dangerous and dehumanizing nature of UAV strikes. Killbox is a game that creates humans out of brightly colored 3D shapes, only to slaughter them in the most dehumanizing way: a drone strike. And not just any drone strike — Read more…

US reportedly elevates the role of Cyber Command The cyberwarfare division would be just as important as a major regional military command. Now that the US treats cyberwarfare as a staple of its combat operations, it’s ready to raise the prominence of its internet warriors. Reuters sources say that the Read more…

US Air Force says the F-35 is ready for combat Jon Fingas • Engadget The F-35 Lightning II has faced more than a few technical problems and cost overruns in the 15 years since Lockheed Martin first won its production contract, but it’s nearly done overcoming those hurdles. The US Read more…

The Army is Testing Genetically Engineered Spider Silk for Body Armor Inserting spider DNA into silkworms yields a tough fabric that’s far more flexible than Kevlar. Spider silk is one of nature’s toughest substances, similar in strength to the Kevlar plastic found in bulletproof vests but much more flexible. Kraig Read more…

North Korean Hackers Steal Military Files from South Korea Hackers aligned with North Korea have always been accused of attacking and targeting South Korean organizations, financial institutions, banks and media outlets. Recent reports indicate that North Korean hackers have hacked into more than 140,000 computers of at least 160 South Read more…